American Go E-Journal » Events/Tournaments

A highlight of the US Go Congress is the teacher training program. At Myungwan Kim 9p’s Tuesday afternoon lecture on teaching opening theory, Kim (right) said that one of the most important things players need to develop is evaluation, both global (whole board) and local (small area) evaluation. “If you are winning globally, or if you are weak locally, how should you play?” he asked the crowd attending the teaching seminar. “Defensive,” he told us after we shouted out a few answers. He also shared a mathematical approach to deciding between invading a territory or reducing it from the outside, in which the player calculates how many points he or she can let the opponent have and still win. If the opponent will make too many, invade. Otherwise, play from the outside. “That’s how you will find exactly how Lee Sedol will play,” explains Kim, “It’s not that difficult. But if you don’t have this type of theory, how can you find what he played? It’s way more difficult.” He also had something to say about losing stones. “The difference between sacrifice and giving up is whether you planned it or not,” he argued, getting a laugh from the crowd. Kim’s next teaching lecture is on Thursday, 8/4, at 1pm.

Antoine Fenech of Strasbourg, France, came to the US Go Congress specifically to exchange teaching ideas with American go clubs and for the seminars for go teachers. Kim’s Tuesday talk was Fenech’s first teaching lesson. “We don’t have this in Europe,” he said afterwards. Fenech (left) is a middle school math teacher who’s also a 5 dan go player. He runs programs in 10 primary schools in the city and teaches kids from 6-13 years old, a program started by his father in 1982, and responsible for training up many strong players. Fenech himself is a product of that program. “The most important thing is that the kids have fun” so that they come back, he said. Asked whether there’s a secret to teaching go he’d like to share with teachers in America, Fenech said that “We have a method to teach go very fast. In like five minutes, they can learn the real go game. And then after that, we don’t need to talk to them anymore, they can just play with each other. I have some kids who play every week and who just play together and I just taught them for five minutes the first day. If they’re already happy playing a lot with each other, then they don’t need someone to tell them more.” But that doesn’t mean the Strasbourg go program isn’t going to produce strong players. “I have some kids who want to improve, who want to play with me,” Fenech explains. “The new generation, we hope that some of them will become stronger, become the best French players.” The Strasbourg go club also developed a website so that kids can keep playing.

- report/photos by Samantha Fede, E-Journal special correspondent, reporting from the 2016 U.S. Go Congress

While the two dozen professional players and the many tournaments, lectures and simuls at the US Go Congress rightfullyclaim most of the attention at this popular event, none of it would be possible without the small army of volunteers that keep everything going and on schedule. More than forty volunteers — ubiquitous in their bright orange Congress shirts — are helping out, according to Congress Director Walther Chen. “They’ve put in so many hours,” he says, “and I know they put in even more hours than I know about, so it’s amazing how much work goes into Congress.” In addition to all the pre-Congress work, registering, housing and feeding hundreds of go players, volunteers also re-set the huge main playing area and Strong Players Room each night, so that attendees see a neatly-organized playing area each morning. Chen says he was able to take on directing the Congress thanks to a community of active go players organizing tournaments and club meetings in the Boston area. Andrew Hall, Event Coordinator and Director of the Evening Tournament, helps organize local go club meetings on Thursdays. “One day I heard Andy Okun was getting dinner with Walther Chen to discuss possibly running Congress in Boston,” Hall said. While we’re talking, an attendee comes by to ask about accessing the wifi and Hall answers before continuing his story. “They went to dinner, and I got an email saying I was running the Congress with them.” Youth Director Devin Fraze, a math teacher from Ohio, explains that “when Fritz Balwite and Paul Barchilon were transitioning out of running the Congress Youth events, they asked me if I’d do it, so I stepped up. I love to see some new energy come to the organizing side of Congress and just to (be able to) give back to this wonderful event.”- report by Samantha Fede, E-Journal special correspondent, reporting from the 2016 U.S. Go Congress; photo by Chris Garlock

Ito & Bao Headed for Showdown in US Open Masters Thursday
And then there were two. Kenryo Ito 1P and Yun Bao 7D are the only undefeated players after five rounds in the US Open Masters. Bao (left) defeated Andy Liu by 2.5 points in a hard-fought Round 5 game Tuesday morning in which Liu had an early advantage but lost it when he mistakenly thought a move was sente. Ito beat Zheng Xiangnan in a Round 5 game that was just 114 moves but ran well into the lunch hour. Ito (right) and Bao will go head to head in Round 6 on Thursday. Complete US Open Masters results and top-board game records here. And click here for the US Open crosstab.

US Open Broadcast Schedule: Wednesday is the traditional Day Off, so there will be no live broadcasts. The broadcasts will resume Thursday morning.

Nqua Xiong 1kAge: 28Lives in: Minneapolis, MinnesotaHome Club: Twin Cities Go ClubYears playing go: 9Favorite thing about go: “The adrenaline rush. It’s the whole game… being able to see all the different fighting variations that come out from different people.”

Alister Hake 12kAge: 29Lives in: Sedona, AZ, originally from Liverpool, EnglandHome Club: Started a local one with friends, and the ASU Go ClubYears playing go: 3Favorite thing about go: “The subtlety to the way it moves.. it’s an amorphous game. It’s just the way it shifts. Things that are all dead come back to life, things that were alive die. That interchange, the way it just spins with the moves. It’s mind-boggling and at the same time enigmatic and intriguing and that’s the best bit about it. Especially when you watch pro games, like Andy [Liu 1P] and Myungwan [Kim 9P], you see the depth of thought and visual imagination and how powerful that is. That level of skill is just mind blowing.” It’s not just about the game for Alister. “It’s really friendly, everyone’s welcome. Everyone can just play and have a good time. It’s an overwhelming characteristic of the US Go Congress.”

- report/photos by Samantha Fede, E-Journal special correspondent, reporting from the 2016 U.S. Go Congress

Andrew Hall doesn’t wear hats, but if he did, he’d be wearing several at this year’s Go Congress. Players may know him best as the founder and Tournament Director of the new Evening League, but he is also the Event Coordinator for the Congress, which means he plays backup for just about everyone else on the Congress team. You might spot Hall at the Congress Help Desk one minute, or fixing clocks (right) the next, and then he’s off and running about the playing rooms in his distinctive Congress staff shirt, the only one with the sleeves cut off to show off both arms covered in go-themed tattoos. Hall learned go from his grandfather, and both his father and his uncle — a 1k in Glasgow — also play. In ninth grade he discovered Hikaru No Go and started spending evenings playing go in Davis Square. After college, he got involved in the local go community who met regularly for club play and tournaments. “We ran local tournaments, including ladder tournaments like the Evening League, and then someone let us run a Congress!” Hall laughs. He’s also worked hard on developing the Open Team Relay tournament, another tournament that — like the Evening League — emphasizes making go fun and fostering a sense of community and competitive spirit, Hall’s favorite things about the game.- report by Karoline Li, Congress Tournament Liaison; photo by Chris Garlock

US Open Masters Round 4 Report (Crosstabs Posted!): After four rounds, just three players are undefeated: Kenryo Ito 1P, Andy Liu 1P and Yun Bao 7D. Bill Lin, Zhaonian Chen, Ryan Li, Xiangnan Zheng and Zirui Song are all 3-1. Crosstabs of results for both the US Open Masters and US Open have now been posted. Again this year we’re including game records; to include your game record, please email your sgf file to journal@usgo.org. Be sure all game info, including the result, is complete. Watch our website, Facebook and Twitter feed for updates throughout each day; top-board broadcasts with professional commentary can be found on our YouTube channel, Twitch and KGS.

“We have tournaments for women and for juniors, why not one for seniors!” exclaimed Bart Jacob after his first Senior Cup game Monday afternoon. The idea for a Senior Cup came from longtime player Wanda Metcalf 5k. With well-established events like the Youth and Women’s tournaments, as well and now a Girls Championship already at the Go Congress, the Senior Cup fills a noticeable gap for a community of longtime go players, some of whom gather weekly at their local clubs, while others see each other once a year at the annual Go Congress. The Senior Cup is four rounds, and all players must be at least 55 years old. TD James Peters says he’s honored to be running a tournament that involves so many long-time Go Congress attendees. “It’s a natural extension of the sorts of tournaments we already run.”- report/photos by Karoline Li, Congress Tournament Liaison

David Glekel 3d and Eric Hookway 10k came out on top Sunday night as the dan and kyu champions of the 9×9 tournament directed by Audrey Wang. As the tournament began, she reviewed the new double elimination structure, faster time settings (5 minutes basic time and 1 period of 10 seconds sudden death byo yomi), and adjusted komi structure. The completely new format — which was designed to complete the tournament in one evening rather than several sessions over the week of the Congress as in past years — caused some confusion for longtime players used to simply being lined up and split into tables, and “could improve in terms of overall efficiency,” said assistant TD Si Chen. “If we do double elimination again, there are definitely some things we could improve on.” Overall, “it was a really good tournament,” said Dan Champion David Glekel, and players had a good time. The new time settings and komi structure were received well, and the champions were chosen without further playoff games needed during the week.- report/photo by Karoline Li, Congress Tournament Liaison

Bill Phillips 1kAge: 59Lives in: Ann Arbor, MichiganYears playing go: 42Favorite thing about go: Bill learned to play go in 1974, the same year he learned to play Ultimate Frisbee- although he’s a lot more serious about go than Ultimate. That being said, he likes them for the same reasons. “Both are incredibly competitive,” he says, “But there’s also an element of compatibility and cooperation that’s required in both of them. In go, you start with an empty board and you build it up to a point where one person has a little bit more than half and one has a little bit less than half. And you want to be that one with a little bit more than half. It’s intensely competitive but it also requires this [cooperation] and respect of your opponent.” The relationships he’s built in the go community are a large part of his long-term go playing. “I’m also here at the Go Congress because of the people. The other thing I really love about go is that every stone is the same, it’s just the relationship with the other stones that are different. And so, the number of relationships far exceeds the number of stones. So the relationships between stones exceed the number of stones, and the relationships at the go tournaments far exceed the number of games I play.”

Jasper Emerton 7kAge: 17Lives in: Nashville, TennesseeYears playing go: 1Favorite thing about go: “When you’re playing, there’s trick moves that you can play such as snapbacks. Seeing that move before your opponent does and being able to trick them into it is my favorite thing… being able to see something that my opponent doesn’t see and taking advantage of their lack of reading.”

- report/photos by Samantha Fede, E-Journal special correspondent, reporting from the 2016 U.S. Go Congress